In 1901, Yuan Shikai was entrusted with a heavy responsibility, succeeding Li Hongzhang, the governor of directly subordinate to the viceroy and minister of trade and commerce in Beiyang, and since then he has become a powerful late Qing dynasty official.
(Yuan Shikai's old photo)
For Yuan Shikai's soaring Yellow Tengda, some people say that he benefited from Li Hongzhang's promotion, and some people say that it was Rong Lu's recommendation. So, who is his nobleman?
Yuan Shikai was born into a large family of officials and gentry in Xiangcheng, Henan.
Because this family has been an official in the court for generations, coupled with the huge family business, it is highly valued in the local area, and even local officials are extremely kind to the Yuan family.
In this big family, Yuan Shikai's birth is not dominant. He was the son of Shu Chu and not the eldest son, so he was passed on to his childless uncle Yuan Baoqing from an early age.
When Yuan Shikai was young, the Twist army was in full swing, and Yuan Baobi was ordered to encircle and suppress. Yuan Shikai was able to accompany the army. In addition to studying, he was very interested in the art of war because of his ears and was determined to be a "ten thousand enemies".
After Yuan Baoqing's death, Yuan Shikai and his uncle Yuan Baoheng went to Beijing to study, planning to enter the imperial examination after studying hard.
In order to realize his dream, Yuan Shikai read books until he vomited blood. However, after working hard like this, he did not even pass the exam twice, which made him feel disappointed. In addition, he was bent on conquering the battlefield, so he simply threw away the book and defected to Wu Changqing, a general of the Huai Army.
Wu Changqing is the brother of his adoptive father Yuan Baoqing, and the two have a lifelong friendship. Therefore, Wu Changqing cultivated Yuan Shikai a lot.
Yuan Shikai was extremely obedient and studious, which made Wu Changqing very happy, so he promoted him to the assistant camp office.
(Noonday Rebellion)
Yuan Shikai's first appearance was during the Korean military turmoil.
At that time, Wu Changqing was ordered to quell the rebellion before he was ordered, and Wu Changqing knew that this was a good opportunity to make meritorious contributions in battle, so he asked Yuan Shikai to accompany him on the expedition.
Yuan Shikai was not a man who was not very good at reading, but he was quite brave in fighting, and when he was in the midst of quelling the chaos, he charged forward and was brave, which built confidence for the Qing army, so he quickly quelled the Korean mutiny.
Wu Changqing immediately repaid him for his merits, and Li Hongzhang, who single-handedly created the Huai Army, naturally felt that he had face, so he recommended Yuan Shikai to garrison Korea and help the Korean royal family train a new army.
Li Hongzhang was a courtier of the DPRK and a red man on Cixi's side. At his recommendation, Yuan Shikai was promoted to help North Korea train the new army as a deputy.
Yuan Shikai seized the opportunity and took the initiative to befriend Li Hongzhang. Because of his extreme dedication and extraordinary ability everywhere, he gradually became Li Hongzhang's new favorite.
As for Wu Changqing, since he had already been transferred from North Korea, Yuan Shikai was no longer as enthusiastic about him as before.
Subsequently, Yuan Shikai did another faceless thing.
At that time, there was civil strife in North Korea, and the Japanese, who were bent on using North Korea as a springboard, took the opportunity to seek North Korea.
As a result, Yuan Shikai led his army into a fierce struggle with the Japanese, and finally repelled them, so that their plot failed.
(Old photo of Li Hongzhang)
At a time of internal and external troubles, Yuan Shikai's move is undoubtedly quite inspiring. In particular, Li Hongzhang felt that Yuan Shikai had added a lot of glory to him, so he paid more and more attention to him.
Therefore, at the recommendation of Li Hongzhang, Yuan Shikai was once again entrusted with real power and became the prime minister stationed in Korea, thus becoming a real power figure who influenced the military and political affairs of the DPRK.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Yuan Shikai returned to China to take charge of the logistics of the Qing army.
After the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang signed the "Maguan Treaty" with the Japanese government, which humiliated the country, and was therefore scolded by the Chinese people and left his post. However, before leaving his post, he recommended Yuan Shikai to Guangxu, who was eager to change the law.
As a result, Yuan Shikai was received by Guangxu.
Yuan Shikai not only prepared a thousand words, but also expounded to Guangxu the importance of organizing and training the new army and how to train troops.
After all, Guangxu was young and eager to save the country by changing the law, so he looked at Yuan Shikai with admiration. He is considered a talent who can save the country.
In order to further gain Guangxu's affirmation, Yuan Shikai also used clever means to befriend Emperor Weng Tonggong, hoping that Weng Tonggong could speak kindly for him in front of Guangxu.
It should be known that Weng Tonggong and Li Hongzhang have always been sworn enemies with different political views, and Yuan Shikai's doing so naturally attracted Li Hongzhang's contempt.
However, Yuan Shikai, under the promotion of Guangxu, soon began to train a new army in Tianjin.
In order to get ahead, Yuan Shikai actively supported the restoration and reform of the law, and had close contacts with Kang Youwei and others. At that time, everyone knew that he was a member of the imperial party.
(Ronglu old photo)
Yuan Shikai was an old slipper in politics, and at that time he saw that the change of law had harmed the interests of the conservatives led by Empress Dowager Cixi, so the contradictions between the two sides were very deep. Just in case, Yuan Shikai tried every means to seduce Rong Lu, the chief minister of the military aircraft.
This RongLu is a red man around Cixi, a person who can play a role at a critical moment. In order to win him over, Yuan Shikai was quite willing to give gifts. In addition, the two have a lot of temper, so the friendship is very deep.
As the contradictions between the empress dowager intensified, Guangxu once wanted to use yuan shikai's forces to surround the Yuanmingyuan and force Cixi to hand over power.
However, Yuan Shikai judged the situation and decided that Guangxu had no future, so he pretended to accept it, but turned around and secretly reported the plot of Guangxu and the restoration faction to Rong Lu. As a result, Cixi was able to cover his ears with lightning speed, put Guangxu under house arrest, and regained power.
Yuan Shikai's hand quickly won Cixi's favor. Coupled with Rong Lu's beautiful words, Yuan Shikai was soon promoted to the post of Inspector of Shandong and became a feudal governor.
After Cixi triggered the Eight-Nation Alliance to attack the city, although Yuan Shikai participated in the "Southeast Mutual Protection" and did not enter the King of Jingqin, he not only paid for cixi on the way out, but also sent an army to escort him when Cixi returned to Luang.
Yuan Shikai's actions naturally made Cixi very useful, plus Yuan Shikai was indeed capable, so when Li Hongzhang died of illness after signing the "Xin Ugly Treaty", Cixi thought about going, and there was no one available in the DPRK, so he simply let Yuan Shikai top Li Hongzhang's lack.
Since then, Yuan Shikai has finally become a famous minister who can influence the Qing government.
Therefore, he can soar, and eventually become a generation of powerful ministers, which can only show that he is too good at drilling camps, as for Li Hongzhang and Rong Lu, it is indeed very helpful for his career, but the key is that he himself will mix!
(Reference historical materials: "Biography of Yuan Shikai", "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty")